One of my passions is raising up young leaders, helping them to find not
only their vocational gifts but also their God-given ministry gifts. I have had
the honor to help raise up many young leaders in and out of the tech realm.
Many of these leaders have gone on to great things and will be far better
leaders that I could ever hope to achieve.

The double-edged sword of raising up leaders to leave and lead is, well, THEY
MAY LEAVE! The goal of pouring into them is not to keep them but to send them.
Sometimes that means they will go off and become “you” somewhere else, other
times it’s merely to further their growth. You may have taken them as far as
you can or they have just plain out grown the position that is available for
them in your organization.

The “Myth” of raising up
leaders is that you can accomplish it in
bulk. Many leadership books can put the “fear-of-God” into you and lead you to
believe that if you are not raising up twenty people to greatness right now you
are a failure. The truth is that even Jesus only had 12, one of which went
rogue (as if Jesus didn’t know that would happen), but he really only focused
his true energy on Peter, John, and James.

Partnering with others to raise up leaders is a must. I really does take a
village (thanks Hillary) to raise up great leaders, you CAN’T do it alone.
Young leaders are being influenced, positively and negatively, by everyone they
come in contact with. By intentionally partnering with the “influencers” in
that person’s life, you can build a community that will make a greater impact
than you could ever do on your own. The first true leader I raised up at South
Hills, Marvin Sinson, ended up as my ATD for almost five years. Marvin is the
polar opposite of me, personality and gifting wise, but shares my passion for
building and shaping young leaders. One of the benefits of focusing on only a
select few makes the process more intense. This intensity will produce both
results and passion in them.

Results will be easy to
spot. The one way to know if you are
raising up leaders is that THEY are raising up and pouring into other potential
leaders. It is contagious, they can’t help it and that is the whole point. Marvin, in turn, help me raise up Brent Allan, who came into our ministry at 16. The passion to raise up leaders I imparted to Marvin was passed on to Brent, who raised up others. Although we have all gone on to other ministries, that passion will continue to raise up leaders in now not one, but three organizations.

The Legacy of building
leaders is that they will go on to
greater things and influence way more people that I will never have the
opportunity to. The leadership DNA that is imprinted on Marvin, as well as many
others, can be traced back to those in my life who have impacted me. Men like
Ken Robertson, Stan Endicott, Bill Richardson, Pete Tessitore, Dave Burdett, and Jim
Lisby, just to name a few, have had (and some continue to have) an enormous
impact, through me, on those that I influence everyday. That is their legacy,
they are touching people they may never meet and that is awesome.